The World is Unravelling
by Mia Vaan
Summary: He promised her answers, and then he disappeared. She figures things out before he returns. Post-season 2 finale.


**Disclaimer: The rights for _Lucifer_ belong to DC and Fox. Don't own, don't claim to own.**

 **AN: My obligatory post-season finale fic. This summer hiatus is gonna be killer, people.**

* * *

When the phone rang, Chloe was putting Trixie to bed, so didn't pick up. If it was important then whoever was ringing would leave a message, or call back a little while later.

Once Trixie was asleep, she didn't get the chance to check her phone, for there was a knock at the door. It was Dan, and he was holding a file in his hands with a serious look on his face.

"Is Trixie in bed?"

"Yeah." Chloe stepped aside and let her ex in. After closing the door behind him, she asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you were at the hospital with Charlotte?" She didn't like the woman, but knew that she meant something to Dan, and truly felt sorry that she didn't seem to remember him.

"I was," he replied. "The doctors concluded that she hit her head pretty hard when she fell off the pier, and now she can't remember these past few months. The last thing she remembers is getting attacked in her hotel suit."

"That first case…" They both took a seat on the couch.

Dan nodded. "Not just that. She also doesn't remember Lucifer, or Amenadiel, or anything to do with their family. I thought it was a little weird that she doesn't remember that, since she remembers everything else before the hotel, but the doctors said that amnesia can be random."

Chloe shook her head. "That still doesn't feel right."

"I felt the same…and we're both right to think that." He handed her the file. "I thought maybe if I could find any details on her first marriage, it might help her remember. But there's nada. She's only been married once, to Elliot Richards, and their divorce was finalised only recently."

Opening the file, Chloe read over Charlotte's details. Born Charlotte Taylor, she was the only daughter of James and Marie Taylor, married Elliot Richards fifteen years ago, and had her two children five years after that. Glancing further into the woman's files, Chloe realized that Dan was right; there was no record of her being married to anyone else.

"It's not that unusual," she said. "She could've had it erased. Lucifer's records only go back five years. I don't think Amenadiel even _has_ any."

"I thought the same," said Dan. "But Charlotte is forty-five years old. How old is Lucifer and his brother?"

Chloe shrugged. "I asked him once, and he said he was older than the universe. But I'd say he's maybe thirty-seven? And Amenadiel probably a couple of years older than that."

"Then there's not much of an age gap between them. Eight years, maybe."

"That's not so unusual, either." And yet as she said it, the gears were starting to turn in Chloe's head. "Men marrying women younger than them; women who are sometimes the same age as their kids. And from everything I've heard about him, Lucifer's dad wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to be around."

Dan nodded. "Maybe so. But imagine their dad married her when she was eighteen. That puts Lucifer and Amenadiel young enough to consider her their step-mother. According to these files, Charlotte graduated at the top of her class out of high school, and went straight into college. She attended the police academy when she was twenty-one, and served as an officer until she quit and went to law school five years later. The files show photographs and everything. Taking all that into account, there's no point where she could've been married and raising kids. She simply wouldn't have had time."

Chloe looked through the files again. Dan was right; there were photos and documents from her time in college, her time as a police officer, her time at law school… What was more, she also looked happy. If she had been in a loveless marriage at the time, then it would've shown. But Chloe couldn't imagine her having any time for a family. And wouldn't Lucifer or Amenadiel or any of his siblings have been in some of the pictures, if Charlotte cared about them as much as she claimed?

It meant that there was no connection between her and Lucifer, at least no connection that made sense. Which meant… "He didn't tell the whole truth."

Her ex's eyebrow rose. "You mean he lied?"

She shook her head. "No. Lucifer doesn't lie. But he doesn't tell the whole truth. I knew he was hiding something. But what?" Thinking back to the case where they first met Charlotte, something didn't add up. Lucifer had been determined to pin the blame on Charlotte, and before that, he'd tried to pin the death of Gillian Taylor on his mother, as well. And that had happened right before they encountered Charlotte…

"He doesn't lie." Dan scoffed. "Sure. So you believe he's the Devil?"

"I think there's more to it than that," said Chloe, ignoring the nagging voice at the back of her head.

"Then don't you think it's about time he came clean?" said Dan. "All this craziness has gone on long enough."

Chloe's phone buzzed before she could reply, reminding her that someone had left a message. She picked it up off the coffee table and looked at the screen.

It was a voicemail. From Lucifer.

"Hold on." She opened the message and held the phone to her ear.

" _Detective. Hello, it's me. Lucifer. Um… I just wanted to apologize for being…well, for being so elusive. But I also wanted to say that I am done hiding. So, I'm coming over now…to tell you the truth about me. Because I think it's time that I finally opened your eyes to why…strange things sometimes happen around me. Why my brother's so saintly and why Maze is so…not, and why I'm so…well, magnetic. No, but seriously, I…I want to tell you everything. No more going backwards._ "

Surprised, she brought the phone down and stared at it.

"What is it?" Dan asked.

"It was Lucifer," she replied. "He says he's coming over to tell me everything." And she didn't know how she felt about that. She'd grown used to Lucifer being a mystery to her; to his strange behaviour and the even stranger occurrences that seemed to always happen around him.

There was a time when she wanted to figure him out. But as their relationship had grown, her want to figure him out had faded; she'd learned to trust him, have faith in him. For the most part, anyway, for he had let her down sometimes. At that point in their relationship, she'd figured that she didn't need to know everything, because he was her friend.

But they were growing. And not telling her everything about him had been sending their relationship backwards. They needed to take a step forward – and in order to do that, he needed to tell her everything. She felt oddly proud that he had made the decision himself, though her earlier words to him no doubt helped.

Dan sighed. "Well, it's about time. Do you want me to leave?"

"I think that's best," said Chloe. "He probably just wants to tell me first. Just…don't do anything until he's told me the whole story."

"Sure. Good luck." He let himself out.

When her ex was gone, Chloe prepared herself for Lucifer's arrival. Throwing caution to the wind, she broke out a bottle of alcohol; she had a feeling she'd need it.

As she waited for him to arrive, she wondered what he was going to tell her. Was his family part of some big religious cult? That would explain a lot. Maybe Lucifer hadn't recovered from the typical brainwashing those kinds of cults usually practised, and still believed that he was the Devil? But then that didn't explain a lot of the other strange things that happened around him. Was he a magician, like her daughter said? Did he pay a special effects team to set everything up? He certainly had the money for it. But that didn't feel right either…

She kept dismissing the notion that maybe it was all real. Maybe he really was the Devil, and everything she didn't believe in was true. Wasn't that the real reason she hesitated to test his blood, and threw it out? Because she was scared that it would all be true, and she was afraid of how she would react to that?

The bottle opened and she poured herself a glass. Taking a sip, she told herself not to speculate until Lucifer arrived.

She waited.

And waited.

It was sad that she wasn't surprised when Lucifer didn't show up.

* * *

"Decker!"

Chloe jumped awake and found herself face to face with a concerned Maze. "I thought I told you to stay out of my room," she told her roommate tiredly.

"I'm not in your room. You fell asleep on the couch."

Frowning, Chloe sat up and looked around. Maze was right; she'd fallen asleep on the couch in her work clothes. Spotting the bottle of alcohol and two glasses, one half full, on the table, she remembered the evening's events and sighed. "Sorry. Lucifer sent me a message to say he was coming over, and I was waiting for him. He didn't show up, which isn't surprising…"

"He didn't show up because he's missing."

Chloe was suddenly more alert and got to her feet. "Missing?"

She noticed that Maze looked more than concerned; she looked worried. That was rare. "And before you say it, no, this isn't like the last time. Any time Lucifer disappears, he always tells me. Or more recently Amenadiel. But he didn't tell either of us, and nothing's missing from his apartment."

"OK." Chloe tried not to worry. Lucifer was strong; he could take care of himself, at least when it came to stuff like this. Switching right into Detective mode, she asked, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Last night," Maze replied. "He came to visit Linda in the hospital."

Linda. Right. He'd mentioned briefly that Linda had been hurt and was in hospital, but he wouldn't explain what had happened to her. "And where did he go after that?"

"He didn't tell me, but clearly he was coming to visit you." Maze began to pace. "But whoever's responsible must've attacked him at the hospital, because his Corvette's still there. And he _never_ leaves his Corvette behind."

Maze was right. The Corvette was his baby. "Do you have any idea who could've done this? Has he pissed anyone off recently?"

"If you want me to make a list, we'll be here all day." Good point. "But we could narrow it down. Were you anywhere near the hospital last night?"

Chloe frowned and shook her head. "No. What's that got to do with it?"

"Never mind." She huffed with frustration.

The protocol for missing people repeated in Chloe's head, over and over. It stopped her from worrying. "I can track his phone's GPS."

"If I can't find him now, then I doubt that'll do any good," said Maze. "But whatever. It's worth a shot."

Picking up her phone, Chloe hoped that the trail didn't lead them to a dumpster with Lucifer's body inside.

* * *

The GPS lead them to a dumpster – but Lucifer's body thankfully wasn't in there. They instead found his shirt, blazer and shoes, and in the blazer pockets they found his phone and car keys, along with a weird necklace Chloe had seen Amenadiel wear. Maze took that, and Chloe let her; it was hardly a clue to Lucifer's whereabouts.

She officially reported Lucifer as a Missing Person, and was thankful that she didn't have any active cases; that meant she was allowed to work it, despite being Homicide.

Amenadiel arrived around the same time they received the CCTV footage from the hospital. They all crowded around the screen – her, Maze, Amenadiel, Dan, and even Ella came over to look – as the tech played through the footage. It followed Lucifer through the halls and out of the building. He took his phone out, and Chloe guessed he was calling her and leaving a message.

He hung up, and suddenly the image went fuzzy. It was like something was interfering with it, and they couldn't make out what happened next. Then when the picture cleared up, Lucifer had vanished into thin air.

"Can you zoom in and make the image clearer?" Chloe asked. "Slow it down, too?"

The tech nodded and rewound the footage. The speed slowed and zoomed in on Lucifer, and some light was added so they could see what was happening a little easier. It was still hard to make out because of the fuzzy image, but they could see a little bit of what had happened; something moved out of the shadows and hit him over the head. In fact, it looked as though the shadows themselves had moved, but maybe that was because it was dark and the attacker was wearing black.

It confirmed that Lucifer had been attacked and taken, but they were no closer to figuring out who had taken him, or where he was.

"Dammit!" Maze slammed her fist against the table before stalking away. Amenadiel quickly followed her.

"I'm gonna reach out through my contacts," said Ella. "It's a longshot, but someone might know something." She walked away, taking out her phone.

Dan sighed. "So much for getting answers."

"That's not important right now," Chloe told him. The she frowned. "Or maybe it is…" He had been taken right after promising her answers. Whatever had happened in his past must've been terrible, else he would never have been hesitant to tell her. Since she was a cop, maybe someone from his past wanted to make sure she never found out?

"What is it, Chloe?"

"I think he was taken by someone he knows," she explained. "Whoever took him did it right after he decided to tell me. Maybe it's someone from his past; someone who doesn't want to find themselves on a cop's radar? So, they take out Lucifer and make sure I never find out."

"How could they have known he was going to tell you?" Dan asked.

Chloe shrugged. "Maybe they've been watching him. Or maybe they knew he was going to tell me before he decided to. I don't know. It's something." She glanced over at where Maze and Amenadiel were talking. "Maybe they know who could've done it. Or they know some suspects. And they could be in danger, too."

Dan scoffed. "Maze? In danger?"

Point. "Keep searching for any leads in case this doesn't pan out."

"Sure."

Steeling herself for a conversation that probably wouldn't be pretty, Chloe walked over to Maze and Amenadiel. As she got close she started to hear some of what they were saying.

"…course there's motivation. If Lucifer threw the blade away, she's probably pissed."

"She's never been nice, but she wouldn't go against Father like this."

"Unless your asshole Father asked her to do this?"

Pausing, Chloe processed their words. Did they already know who had taken Lucifer? Crossing the final space between them, she came to a stop next to them and halted their conversation. "She? Father? Do you guys know who took him?"

The pair exchanged hesitant glances before Amenadiel spoke. "I'm sorry, Chloe, but this is family business. This shouldn't concern you."

"This shouldn't-!" She put a lid on her anger before it exploded from her. "Lucifer is my _friend_! When he's in trouble, it concerns me!" Her eyes narrowed. "And withholding information about a crime is an offence. If you refuse to tell me what you know, I can put you in a holding cell."

Maze snickered while Amenadiel just looked annoyed. "I know you don't understand-"

"You know, I think I preferred you broody and miserable, instead of this high-and-mighty attitude you've got going on," Maze interrupted, silencing Amenadiel with a glare. She turned her attention to Chloe. "Their sister took him. Azrael. The Angel of Death. I never met her, but she's apparently not a very nice person to be around."

Chloe ignored the Angel reference for the time being. It was second-nature now. "And you said your Father might have a hand in it?"

"We don't know," said Amenadiel. "And that's what we need to find out. But the police can't be part of this, Chloe. I'm sorry."

Her mind went back to Lucifer's message. He'd wanted to tell her something; a secret about himself, his family… And wanting to tell her may have gotten him kidnapped. If the kidnapper was truly his sister, then that seemed even more likely. "Lucifer left me a message last night, before he was taken. He said that he wanted to tell me everything. That's why he was coming over to my place."

The pair before her both looked surprised. "He was going to tell you?" asked Maze.

Amenadiel rolled his eyes. "And once again, he didn't hold a meeting about it."

Chloe nodded in reply to Maze. "I think that may be why your sister took him; because she didn't want him telling me. I'm a cop; is she involved with some criminal activity, or something?"

"It has nothing to do with you being a cop," said Maze. "This isn't about you, Chloe. Lucifer had something of hers, and he threw it away. That's why she attacked him. What she's planning to do to him, we don't know."

"And we need to find them, fast," said Amenadiel.

"Then if you need to find them quickly, tell me what's going on and I can help," Chloe said. "Keeping secrets isn't going to help anyone." Just like it hadn't helped her relationship with Lucifer. He kept secrets from her, when she kept nothing from him. As a result, their relationship had been going backwards, ever since he ran out on her.

And right when he wanted to move forwards, this happened.

Amenadiel looked determined. His decision was set in stone. "I'm sorry, Chloe." He glanced over her shoulder and frowned.

Chloe looked behind her, but there was nothing. There was a sudden gust of wind, and she turned back…to find Amenadiel gone and Maze looking pissed.

It wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to her, but she still sent Maze a puzzled look. Her roommate shrugged. "He's got his powers back, and now he thinks he can use them whenever he damn well pleases."

She ignored the mention of powers. "Maze, can you tell me anything?"

Maze sighed. "I want to, Decker. But right now, I think it's best if you didn't know. Finding out the truth almost broke Linda, and we need you stable for Lucifer's sake. When we get Lucifer back, he can tell you everything. Now that we know who took him, it shouldn't take us long to find him."

The woman quickly left, and Chloe couldn't find it within herself to stop her. Maze had promised more than Amenadiel had, which was a start, but her words gave her pause and made her think.

What was so terrible about them that it almost broke Linda? Dr. Martin was a good therapist; she must have heard every story going. Nothing should have phased her. And yet, whatever truth she'd been told… Chloe remembered Lucifer talking about it before, saying how she was ignoring his calls and then had turned into "a babbling lunatic" and "was totally useless". He'd said he'd broken her.

"I can handle it. I've seen all your ugly parts," she'd told him back then. And he had said in reply "not even close", refusing to discuss it with her.

There was one explanation; one thought which kept nagging at her brain, one which she kept pushing down, but she couldn't ignore it any longer. What if there was a chance that he was telling the truth? That he really was the Devil, and that Heaven and Hell and God really did exist? It sounded ridiculous, and yet…

As a detective, she had to explore all avenues of possibility. No matter how silly, or unlikely, or unbelievable. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth", and all that.

Understanding Lucifer's secret seemed to be the key to finding him. So, she was going to keep an open mind, and solve the puzzle of Lucifer Morningstar.

* * *

"Whoa."

Chloe turned to her ex and shrugged. "I know. It's a lot. I didn't realize just how much I ignored until I put it all into perspective."

Dan walked up to her side and took a good look at the massive flow chart she'd created using sticky notes and photos. "How long did it take you to make this?"

"Two days," she replied. Two days since Lucifer had gone missing. Two days since she'd last seen Maze and Amenadiel, though text messages confirmed that they hadn't disappeared like Lucifer had. They were out looking for him, and she kept her distance.

Mostly because she didn't want them seeing what she was doing.

Every strange occurrence and everything Lucifer had said was posted onto the board, taken from every case and encounter she'd shared with him since the day they met.

Getting shot by Jimmy Barnes and walking it off, but bleeding when she shot him. Walking away when Malcolm shot him.

She'd sketched out the scars on his back; ones left behind from where he'd claimed he'd cut off his wings. Next to the sketch she pinned a picture of the stolen wings, even thought they'd been a fake.

There was Lucifer's claim that he'd plucked a bullet out of thin air when Amenadiel slowed down time, and he ended up behind her. Next to that she made note of the incident on the pier, which was eerily similar in how Lucifer and Charlotte ended up on the beach below in the space of a second.

Everything was on the board, and lengths of string joined the things she thought were connected with each other.

Staring at the board, now that it was complete, Chloe couldn't find a rational explanation that would fit. The only one that did wasn't rational in the slightest…

"That knife…" Dan walked over to the picture of the first murder from the Glory case; the one that showed the killer with the blade as he stabbed his victim repeatedly. She'd put the picture up since not only had Lucifer been obsessed with finding the blade, but because the weapon was still missing, and they couldn't figure out how six people had randomly killed each other without motive.

"What about it?" she asked.

Dan pulled the picture off the board. "Lucifer had it."

Somehow that didn't surprise her. "When?"

"On the pier," Dan explained. "Right before he confronted you and Charlotte, he came up to me and he had it in his hand. He…used it to find his brother's pendant, which was in my pocket. The pendant was attracted to the blade, like some kind of magnet."

It sounded crazy, but no less crazy than the other stuff on the wall. Thinking back to their stand-off on the pier, Chloe recalled the blade and realized that it was eerily similar to the one from the Glory case. And yet, it looked different, too. "There was something different about it…" Something she'd seen before…

She took another look at the wall, and she quickly found what she was looking for. A picture of Earl Johnson was placed close to the bottom, put there due to Lucifer's insistence that the man was his father. It hadn't been true in the end, but Chloe found it strange that Lucifer could mistake a man for his father when he must've known what his father really looked like. And the man had called himself "God", which fit…

But it was what Johnson was wearing that held her attention. She pulled the picture from the board and took a close look at his jeans – specifically, the belt buckle.

Her ex looked over her shoulder. "That was attached to the blade."

"Yeah…" Maybe that was why Lucifer admitted himself to the ward, and stuck close to Johnson. Maybe he was after the man's belt buckle. But why? "This doesn't make any sense. None of this does. There's no rational explanation for any of it. The only explanation that would make any kind of sense is…" But she couldn't say it.

"What?"

She sighed. "That it's all true. He's the Devil, and it all exists."

Like she expected, Dan scoffed. "That's a big leap, Chloe. I mean, seriously?"

"Do you have any other explanation?"

"No, but maybe we haven't looked hard enough." Dan took the picture from her grasp, and set both photos down in front of the wall. "And it's not like we can test his blood, or anything."

"I nearly did, once." Chloe's eyes lit up, a thought occurring to her. "Can you get Lucifer's blazer from evidence?"

Dan frowned at her suspiciously, but he did as asked and left to get it. When he was gone, Chloe leaned against the desk and composed herself.

She was gonna do it. She was really going to do it; find out who Lucifer was, once and for all. Before she'd been scared of what the results would be, but now her friend was in trouble, and finding out the truth could help save him. Finding out would help them move forwards.

It really was time that she knew the truth.

Her ex returned with Lucifer's blazer wrapped in a bag, and Chloe put on a pair of gloves before she took out some tweezers. She then removed the blazer from the bag and examined the top of it.

"What are you looking for?" asked Dan.

"Hair samples," said Chloe. "Or skin samples. Anything that can give us a DNA sample."

Once again, Dan scoffed. "Really, Chloe? You're gonna test his DNA?"

"Listen to your Mulder, Scully. And tell me you haven't been curious about this?" Dan didn't say anything, and Chloe kept looking.

Eventually she pulled off a single, dark strand of hair. She sealed it in a small plastic bag.

Dan had obviously decided to play along, for he asked, "What now?"

"Now we get this to Ella."

They crossed the precinct and found Ella in the lab. She was finishing a phone conversation in Spanish, and hung up when the two approached. "Hey, guys. Bad news. None of my contacts have heard anything about this. I've got nada."

Chloe suspected that would be the case. "Don't worry. But I need a big favour from you."

"Shoot. Happy to help."

"I need you to test this hair sample." Chloe put the bag on the table. "But I need you to do it discreetly. This can't enter the police database."

Ella wasn't phased in the slightest. "Don't worry, that's not weird at all. Being discreet is my jam. I can totally do that. Where's the hair sample from?"

"It's Lucifer's. We got it from his blazer." As she spoke, Chloe remembered what Ella had said months ago; about doubting in order to believe, and how proving it all existed would destroy the meaning of faith. And she realized just how much she was asking the young scientist. She couldn't let Ella walk blindly into this if there was even the slightest chance… "But…there's a reason this needs to be discreet."

The younger woman frowned. "OK…I'll bite. Why?"

There was no way Chloe could explain it without sounding crazy, so she decided to just come right out and say it. "There's a chance…that Lucifer…could really be who he says he is. And with that in mind, I don't want to destroy your faith by having…actual proof that it all exists." Behind her she heard Dan scoff, and she resisted the urge to elbow him.

She was being serious. She didn't want to hurt Ella this way. But at the same time, Ella was the only person she trusted with this, and she didn't know who else she could go to…

For the first time, Ella actually looked uncertain. But it didn't last long, and she swallowed before giving a look of determination. "Warning appreciated, but our boy Luce is in trouble. And if this helps us find him faster, then I'm willing to risk melting my brain from any kind of divine revelation."

Chloe sighed in relief. "Thanks, Ella."

* * *

Chloe prepared herself for anything. For seeing the unbelievable.

And yet, all the preparation in the world couldn't prepare her for the truth.

What they saw on the screen…it wasn't human DNA. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. It was indescribable.

"Whoa…" Ella was in awe. She contrasted Dan, who was pacing behind them and cursing under his breath.

At first, Chloe didn't know how she felt. She was shocked, sure, but shocked that it all existed, and that it was confirmed right before her eyes. Lucifer was the Devil, Maze was a demon, Amenadiel was an Angel, Heaven existed, Hell existed, God existed…

When the shock wore off, Chloe realized that…she didn't feel any different.

She wasn't surprised. At all.

It all made sense, and deep down, she realized that she'd known it was true on some level. She just hadn't wanted to accept it, not wanting to change how she saw the world, not wanting to be afraid of her best friend, even if there was no reason for her to be afraid, because Lucifer would never hurt her, at least not intentionally…

"But who's Charlotte?" Dan suddenly spoke up, drawing to a halt.

Chloe thought back to what Lucifer had said before; back when he was blaming his mother for the death of Gillian Taylor. He'd mentioned something about her soul… "His mother would be a Goddess," she said. "And I think Lucifer mentioned that she needed to enter a dead body and re-animate it. I ignored it back then, but… Maybe Charlotte really did die in that hotel room, and Lucifer's mother took the body over? And if she left the body, then Charlotte's soul came back…" That would explain why Lucifer suddenly referred to her as Charlotte afterwards…

Her words didn't help Dan's state, and he laughed almost hysterically. "I slept with a Goddess… I slept with a frikkin' _Goddess_!"

"I kissed the Devil." Chloe shrugged.

"And I hugged the Devil." Ella was nodding with a smile. "Awesome."

Dan began pacing again, and Chloe was about to suggest they go out for drinks, but then her phone buzzed. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen.

It was from Maze.

 _We found him_.

* * *

It was wrong, so wrong, but Chloe turned her lights and siren on and sped through traffic in order to get to Lux faster.

She hadn't asked Maze where they'd found Lucifer; the woman (demon) could tell her when she arrived and saw Lucifer alive and _safe_ with her own eyes. And then, when they were alone, just the two of them, she could tell him that she knew what he was going to tell her, she knew and she still accepted him, was still his friend, and he didn't have to hide anything from her anymore because they were moving forwards…

There were still things that didn't make sense. Why he ran, for starters. But all that could wait.

Finally, she arrived at Lux, and parked her car in the alley beside the building. She barely remembered to put the handbrake on and kill the engine before she leapt out of the car and hurried inside. It was day time so there were no customers; just the staff behind the bar. Chloe didn't even spare them a glance as she ran towards the elevator and pressed the button to call it. The doors opened and she leapt inside.

The ride up felt longer than it actually was, and Chloe bounced her leg both with impatience and with anticipation.

When the doors opened, she bolted out into the penthouse…and froze. "Oh Lucifer."

He was sat on the couch with no shirt, dressed only in his trousers, which looked filthy. His body was covered in peeling skin, meaning that he must've been out in the sun for days, and the tone was a shade darker than normal. His hair was full of sand, and there was a five o'clock shadow on his face which told her he hadn't shaved in days.

She'd seen bodies like his before. He'd been in the desert.

Maze was sat by his side with a cloth, attempting to clean his wounds, while Amenadiel was pacing behind them. They all looked in her direction when she entered.

Lucifer chuckled, but it was hollow with no humour behind it. "No worries, Detective. I've had worse than this."

Chloe hurried over to the couch and sat down. She wanted to hug him and hold him close, but didn't want to hurt him. The peeling skin looked painful. "What happened?"

"Apparently, my sister attacked me outside the hospital and left me stranded in the desert," Lucifer replied. "All because I threw away her favourite toy. Nasty little thing. It needed to go."

Looking over his body, Chloe said, "She caused all this over a toy?"

He shrugged. "She tends to blow things out of proportion." His gaze averted to his lap. "I'm sorry I let you down, again. I promised that I would come to you and explain-"

"It's fine," she assured him. "You were kidnapped. It's a good excuse."

Maze suddenly leapt to her feet and grabbed Amenadiel by the arm. "Come on, let's go have sex." Amenadiel protested and tried to pull away, but Maze held firm and dragged him away, towards where the spare bedrooms were. She sent Chloe a wink before disappearing from view.

The demon was leaving them alone so Lucifer could tell her the truth, not knowing that Chloe already knew. The detective sighed. How was she going to explain that?

Lucifer sighed, as well. "I suppose you want the truth that I promised you."

She could easily play along and pretend that she didn't know until he told her, but that was lying, and it wouldn't be fair. Chloe bit her lip and made a decision. "Can I talk first?"

"Of course." Lucifer nodded, looking a little relieved that his confession was being pushed back, if only for a short while.

"When you went missing, Maze and Amenadiel knew who had taken you," she began. "But they wouldn't tell me anything about it, and I didn't like it. I wanted to help find you, and it frustrated me that they didn't seem to trust me. And when I realized that it was to do with all the…strangeness that happened around you, I decided to try and figure out what was going on by myself. I made a flow-chart, and everything."

"Only you, Detective." There was a little smile on his face.

"I studied it, tried to figure it out; tried to figure _you_ out. But…" She sighed again. "There was only one logical conclusion. Only one that would make sense, and I had to confirm it." She shook her head. "Seriously, Lucifer. You have some weird-ass DNA."

He looked startled and surprised, and she could see the wheels turning in his head as he figured out what she was telling him. And when he was certain, he could only stare with wide eyes. "You know."

She nodded. "I get why you didn't tell me before. Honestly, I think that's why I didn't test your blood; I was afraid that it would turn out to be real, and that I would react horribly and ruin our friendship-"

"You also shot me that time."

" _You_ told me to." The Devil shrugged a little at that. "And just so you know, Dan and Ella know, too. Ella's pretty cool with it, but Dan looked like he was on the verge of a meltdown. I think he'll be fine, eventually."

"He could resist the pull of the Blade of Death. He _will_ be fine." Lucifer still looked shocked. "But if you know, why are you here? I'd have thought you needed some time to come to terms with this, at the very least. Linda locked me out of her office for a few days before letting me back in, and when she did she was a tad unhinged."

"I have a theory. Or rather, two," said Chloe. "For one, I think I've always known on some level who you really are, and I just didn't want to face the reality of it. And at the end of the day, the Devil may be _what_ you are, but I know _who_ you are: you're Lucifer Morningstar, my friend and partner. That hasn't changed. Nothing has."

He was gazing at her in awe and appreciation, but when she said those last words, he looked away. "Well… _something's_ changed."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I doubt Azrael's responsible. Only Dad could have done it," he explained. "But…when I woke up in that desert, I found that my Father…gave me something. Just…try not to go insane, hmm? You're not affected by me, so hopefully these won't affect you, either…"

"Just come out and say it, Lucifer."

A breath exhaled. A determined look. He rose to his feet, and Chloe rose with him. "Let's just say that Maze and my brother didn't find me in the desert. They found me here…after I flew back."

"Flew?"

Suddenly there was a flash of white, and Chloe could only stare at the white, glorious wings that had sprung out of his back.

And she found herself completely and utterly stumped by them.

"Try not to go catatonic on me, Chloe. You were doing so well."

Chloe took in a deep breath and let it out again. She kept her gaze on the wings, and decided they were far more beautiful than the false ones at the auction. "They're gorgeous."

"They're a _chain_." The worry was gone from Lucifer's eyes, replaced by hurt and pain.

"OK." Chloe stepped towards him slowly, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. She didn't dare to touch his wings, not without his permission. "How are they…? I mean, you said you cut them off, and…I'm pretty sure you burned them?"

"I did. Like I said, Dad gave them to me." He looked utterly destroyed. "These wings are a reminder of what I once was. They were a symbol of my status as Dad's loyal soldier. I…I _can't_ have them back. I don't _want_ them! I…" There were tears in his eyes, and Chloe's heart broke for him. "I want to stay here…with you."

She moved her hands to cup his cheeks, using her thumbs to dry his eyes the best she could. "I know. And I want you here with me, too. We'll figure this out. We always do."

He nodded his head slowly, looking every part the lost son that he was (a lost son of _God_ ). His head then fell forwards and buried itself against her shoulder. The quiet sobbing that came from him took the final pieces of her broken heart and shattered them further.

All Chloe could do was hold him close, and absentmindedly, she began to stroke the feathers of his wings. Lucifer continued to cry, but under her touch, he began to relax.


End file.
